Less than 20 years ago, Barnsley and Rotherham were eyeball to eyeball. Richard Darn examines how it ll went right for the Tykes and wrong for the Millers
I’ve always had difficulty understanding Charles Darwin and all that Origin of the Species stuff. How on earth could a hare and a tortoise be descended from the same creature? Then one day it suddenly dawned on me. Once upon a time Barnsley FC were just like Rotherham United – and now they’re not.
The two Sheffield clubs share a long history of mediocrity. That makes their relationship all the more fraught, says Gary Armstrong
It cannot easily be argued that footballing success is the reason for the large number of fans in Sheffield who flock to watch both United and Wednesday. Historically neither side has been superior to the other for very long, and neither has won an FA Cup or League championship for over 50 years.
Football League clubs will get a big cash boost from their new TV deal. But they should have paid more attention to the quality of the coverage, says Roger Titford
One of the most frequent complaints of fans of Football League clubs is the lack of publicity given to their club and, indeed, their whole League. Under the current TV deal the Premiership has been able to monopolise the interest of the media and the casual fan. Indeed the Premiership has been so successful in creating a “distinct brand identity” that it is now almost covered as if it were a separate sport.
Criticism of Italy's tactics is not likely to change the way they play, says Roberto Gotta
Car horns stayed silent on Sunday night, July 2. How ironic it has been to see one of the dullest, most defensive national teams of all time come within a minute of winning a tournament they had entered without much hope. Whenever Italy enter a tournament with low expectations, they fare much better than when they are expected to do well. It happened in Argentina 78 and, memorably, in Spain 82, when the Italy camp was torn by controversies and the team was barely seen as capable of progressing to the second round (which they did, just), then went on to win it.
In four years the previous european champions have turned into a laughing stock. Peter Schimkat investigates the German malaise
Germany were neither the worst team at Euro 2000 (Denmark) nor the most boring one (Norway), though it has to be admitted that we ran both of them pretty close. What’s more, it was clear to everyone that this was not an isolated failure. Following the defeat by England, nobody gave a damn about that match. Everyone was far more interested in discussing what had gone so horribly wrong in the last couple of years.